Creating tangent planes, Alibre Design and Atom

[Ken226]

I recorded this short tutorial for a fellow forum member. I'm posting a link here, in case anyone new to Alibre has a similar how-to question.

In this video, its done using Alibre Design tools.

If your using Atom3d and need to do something similar, you can create some 3d features to define the planes, then suppress the 3d features when your done. Here is a demonstration of the Method that @DavidJ came up with below.

 

[Pete Cuthbert]

I recorded this short tutorial for a fellow forum member. I'm posting a link here, in case anyone new to Alibre has a similar how-to question.

Many thanks for the Video Ken. I have followed it with interest. (I especially liked the train in the background.) Going into Atom 3D I notice that the tools you used to fix your points, etc. seem not to be visible. I suppose there are two questions arising from that. Firstly, can what you did be done in Atom and secondly, if so, where have they hidden the tools?

Regards

Pete

 

[Ken226]

Many thanks for the Video Ken. I have followed it with interest. (I especially liked the train in the background.) Going into Atom 3D I notice that the tools you used to fix your points, etc. seem not to be visible. I suppose there are two questions arising from that. Firstly, can what you did be done in Atom and secondly, if so, where have they hidden the tools?

Regards

Pete

In the 2d sketching workspace, right in the middle of this pic, labeled "constraints".

Hover the cursor over each button (without clicking), and after a sec, it'll tell you what that button does.

Would it be helpful if I did a video showing each constraint button, and what it does?

 

[DavidJ]

Perfectly possible, though perhaps not so neat. Atom3D has a deliberately simplified UI, so some 'convenience' features and more advanced tools are not available. For most tasks it is possible to use a slightly different approach to achieve the same end. In example file I used and extra 3D feature to help construct the desired reference geometry. The extra feature can be suppressed, or set to a very small thickness afterwards so it isn't visible. [EDIT - have revised the file as first attempt wasn't showing the same thing as Ken's tutorial - even now it isn't exactly the same]

 

[Ken226]

I think i realize what your missing. The insert axis and insert point tools? Do those not exist in Atom?

 

[DavidJ]

Insert Axis / Point from 2D sketch are not available in Atom3D, hence the approach shown in the part I posted - same principles as per your video but a slightly different method.

 

[HaroldL]

Perfectly possible, though perhaps not so neat. Atom3D has a deliberately simplified UI, so some 'convenience' features and more advanced tools are not available. For most tasks it is possible to use a slightly different approach to achieve the same end. In example file I used and extra 3D feature to help construct the desired reference geometry. The extra feature can be suppressed, or set to a very small thickness afterwards so it isn't visible. [EDIT - have revised the file as first attempt wasn't showing the same thing as Ken's tutorial - even now it isn't exactly the same]

Instead of suppressing the extra feature, since the points lose their references, you can also do an Extrude Cut to "remove" it after the planes have been created.

 

[Pete Cuthbert]

Thanks for that information David. Thanks too for the file which I have been trying to 'reverse engineer' but as yet with little success. Would it be too much to ask for you to do a video or written instruction to post up by Ken's original? That would be useful for novice Atom users.

Regards

Pete

 

[Ken226]

Thanks for that information David. Thanks too for the file which I have been trying to 'reverse engineer' but as yet with little success. Would it be too much to ask for you to do a video or written instruction to post up by Ken's original? That would be useful for novice Atom users.

Regards

Pete

If David is unable, ill make one for you this afternoon when i have access to my CAD computer.

 

[Pete Cuthbert]

Hi Ken

That is very kind of you. Hope it does not keep you away from more important work.

Best wishes

Pete

 

[Ken226]

I finished the video. I'll edit this post to include it.

 

[HaroldL]

Ken, I noticed a couple of things related to the reference lines you used in your video that I think added some extra work to the process. I recorded a short video to explain a different method.

TangentPlanesOnElipse.mp4

Shared from Screencast.com

www.screencast.com

 

[Ken226]

Ken, I noticed a couple of things related to the reference lines you used in your video that I think added some extra work to the process. I recorded a short video to explain a different method.

TangentPlanesOnElipse.mp4

Shared from Screencast.com

www.screencast.com

I've been aiming for maximum simplicity in these videos, without much regard for efficiency. I try to think about workflow in the way that will seem intuitive to someone who is very new to this.


Your talking about the first video obviously, since atom doesn't have those insert axis/point tools and the second video is about Atom.



This is is about my third month on Alibre since switching from Inventor, so I'm still learning the software too, and probably am not using the most efficient method for many things.
Responding to these questions and figuring out how to do these things is helping me learn as well as others who are new to solid modeling.


I appreciate the video Harold, lots of good info there and I'll definitely play around with that equation editor more, as I havn't used it much.


On the topic of the axes/points, I did realize that it was inserting an axis rather than converting, from the title/name of the button itself. But I don't always remember the correct terminology for everything while I'm talking. Sometimes I call drawings sketches, engines motors and sometimes I call reference figures lines. just the downside of aging, I hope.

Now that your making some Videos, I won't have to make as many! I just put one up on using the plane creation tools too.

 

[HaroldL]

Your talking about the first video obviously, since atom doesn't have those insert axis/point tools.

Yea, it was the one recorded in Alibre Professional, there almost has to be separate videos for Atom and Alibre, given the reduced tool set in Atom. Creating a "How Too" as a PDF as @Max indicated in his post takes a lot of time doing screen shots and editing the text to make it clear to the reader so recording a short video works pretty good for a short how to.
I still pick up a trick or two on the forum and I've been using Alibre since version 5 or 6 don't really recall but it's been a while.

just the downside of age.

...wait til you get to my age.

 

[Pete Cuthbert]

Good Morning Gentlemen from the West of Wild Wales

Many thanks to you both for your video productions. I certainly agree that perhaps one needs to differentiate between what works in Atom compared to Expert when giving advice. I learned that the hard way having put a lot of work into a user guide for our Club website only to discover afterwards that the site only works with certain browsers.

Given that the cloud has lifted and we can see the hills again, I will come back to Alibre after my wife and I have been for our daily tandem trike ride.

Best wishes

Pete

 

[Pete Cuthbert]

Hi Folks

After much sweat I think I am about on top of this topic. Sadly Atom is much diminished compared to Expert. 'View Annotations' is missing, sketching is not allowed in 3D but only in one plane of 2D and then there are some of the minor things that could be better. Project to Sketch only generates a pale blue line unlike the nice strong dashed line that Harold used. However dynamic dimensioning is permanently on which is really useful.

With Atom being so tightly locked into 2D for sketching Harold's ease of rolling the part and doing tangents etc. is not possible. However, the idea of adding some extra extrusions that stick out from one plane and thus can be visible from the 'other' plane is such a good idea for knowing where something is located. So thank you very much folks. I feel much wiser now and hopefully will be able to go back to some earlier sketches where the 2D blockage seemed insurmountable.

Regards

Pete

 

[Ken226]

Hi Folks


With Atom being so tightly locked into 2D for sketching Harold's ease of rolling the part and doing tangents etc. is not possible. .

Regards

Pete

Are you certain about that? I could certainly be wrong, but I seem to remember doing it when I had Atom.

Have you tried clicking the "view" tab, the clicking the "rotate" button, and dragging the view to the orientation you want?

 

[Ken226]

Is this what your talking about?

BTW, if you decide to upgrade to Design Pro you'll love the extra functionality. I believe the CAD side of Pro is the same as Expert. The only thing pro really lacks that expert has is sheetmetal and keyshot rendering. You can use Simlab Lite for rendering, free.

If you call Alibre or use the online chat tool on the website, they will apply the cost of your Atom license to your Design upgrade, if you ask them.

 

[HaroldL]

With Atom being so tightly locked into 2D for sketching Harold's ease of rolling the part and doing tangents etc. is not possible.

I don't know if Atom has these settings but I made some changes to the System Options on my Alibre so it is easier for me to manipulate the view.

First I changed the Mouse Interaction so I can use just the right mouse button (RMB) to rotate the model. That is a lot easier for me than having to hold down both mouse buttons to rotate the view, which is the default setting.


Second, I turned off the Snap to working plane on the Sketching tab. That allows me to sketch in any orientation I need. It may be that snapping to the working plane is what you see as "locking to 2D".


and Third, I turned off Reorient on Extrude on the Design Interaction tab. That keeps the view in the orientation that it was in when I created the sketch or at least the orientation I want when I create the feature that the sketch is for.


For me I find it easier to have the part model in somewhat of an ISO view orientation so I can better visualize what I am working on. Especially when adding features to a part.

And one last bit of info is that I have a 3DConnexion Space Navigator for manipulating the model view. In the short video I recorded I tried not using it to keep the video as normal to Alibre's settings as possible.


The Space Navigator makes it a whole lot easier for me to work on models without having to use the standard mouse to move, pan or rotate the view.

 

[Ken226]

Ive been wanting to try that spacenavigator, it looks like just the ticket for working in vehicles, on a laptop, which i do pretty often.

Pete, if your using a standard mouse, you can hold both left and right buttons at the same time and drag the view around to any angle you want as well, even in the 2d sketch workspace.

Edited to add: I just noticed that Harold mentioned holding down both buttons at the same time to rotate the view before already. It's a great tip if you don't want to change the default settings.

I pretty much still use the default settings. After i found out about the both buttons tip, it made life alot easier. One of these days I'll start personalizing the mouse settings.